Inspire Brands Opens ‘First-of-Its-Kind’ Delivery and Takeout Kitchen

Five of Inspire Brands’ concepts are coming together under one roof. The restaurant company announced the opening of its new, forward-looking delivery and takeout kitchen: Alliance Kitchen.

While the Atlanta-based kitchen comes as demand for off-premise dining continues, it also looks to lessen some industry challenges by improving labor efficiencies while reducing operational costs. Inspire Brands says it’s also a first for a multi-brand restaurant company.

Courtesy of Inspire Brands.

“Inspire is uniquely positioned to operate a concept like Alliance Kitchen, the first ghost kitchen launched, owned and operated by a multi-brand restaurant company,” says Stephanie Sentell, senior vice president of restaurant operations and innovation, in a blog post. “Inspire’s culture of innovation, coupled with our experience operating nearly 2,000 of our corporate-owned restaurants, enabled us to bring this idea to life successfully.”

The kitchen will offer favorite menu items from Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s, Sonic Drive-In and Rusty Taco, which customers can order online or through a third-party app.

The company says the kitchen was created with collaboration in mind, featuring segmented workstations designed to fulfill orders for multiple brands. This design allows employees to be cross-trained across the brands, which Inspire Brands estimates will result in labor needs being reduced by 54%.

As for operational improvements, the company anticipates the kitchen will reduce square footage needs by 19%, decrease equipment costs by 45% and reduce energy consumption by more than 50% when compared to standalone restaurants.

Another benefit of this model, the company says, is that it offers an environment to test and learn in real-time with new labor models, kitchen layouts and menu items.

The kitchen also will improve the pick-up experience for delivery drivers. Alliance Kitchen was outfitted with heated and ambient lockers that allow drivers to pick up their orders quickly, a drivers’ lounge, free Wi-Fi, phone charging stations and complementary Dunkin’ Donuts coffee for third-party delivery drivers.